LaGuardia’s “Lesson” Forum

“The Supremes” have stayed, for a week(seven days, 168 hours), the execution of Mr. Davis. Thank you to all of you who sent letters and emails to “the powers that be.” I have to believe that, like prayers, these missives add unquantifiable power to a position: in this case, “life.” Here is what the NYTimes reported:

ATLANTA — The United States Supreme Court issued a stay of execution on Tuesday for a Georgia inmate convicted of killing a police officer in 1989, two hours before his scheduled death by lethal injection.

Troy Davis had been scheduled to be executed Tuesday evening in Georgia.

The inmate, Troy A. Davis, 39, was convicted of murdering Mark MacPhail, a Savannah police officer. The Supreme Court, which issued the stay without explanation, will decide Monday whether to grant Mr. Davis’s appeal for a new trial.

Again, thank you for your prayers.

Here is another death-penalty case in the news today.I have two conflicting opinions (and links) of what the case centers on.Is “eyewitness testimony” enough to condemn a man to death?Please read (at least) the excerpts, preferably the entirety of the two cited “articles” (opinion pieces), and write a few sentences about what your opinion is.

The first excerpt is from a passionate editorial in the New York Times on Saturday by Bob Herbert:

Nine witnesses testified against Mr. Davis at his trial in 1991, but seven of the nine have since changed their stories. One of the recanting witnesses, Dorothy Ferrell, said she was on parole when she testified and was afraid that she’d be sent back to prison if she didn’t agree to finger Mr. Davis.

This second Pro-Death-Penalty Account is from a blog that digests another site to which it is linked.This is a fairly graphic and opinionated “article.”It has this account, which (I think) the Herbert column refutes, or at least calls into question:

Officer MacPhail, wearing his police uniform — including badge, shoulder patches, gun belt, .38 revolver and nightstick — ran to the scene of the disturbance. Davis fled. When Officer MacPhail ordered him to halt, Davis turned around and shot him. Officer MacPhail fell to the ground. Davis, smiling, walked up to the stricken officer and shot him several more times.

About Lesson B4

This is a forum where LaGuardia Students, Faculty and Staff can discuss this year’s Common Reading Ernest J. Gaines’ A Lesson Before Dying. This is a place where you can “shout-out” your response to the novel or any of the ideas that the text raises. There will be occasional “prompts” posted to spark discussion, however this should be seen as a place where any and all can raise any issue they want. Please participate by entering a “comment” below the post that interests you. You can explore previous individual blog posts below to the left or here.(If someone wants to suggest a prompt they can email me their request by clicking the “prompt” above or sending it to <sgregoire-at-lagcc.cuny.edu>.)